“It’s great news and it’s wonderful that it’s an Australian developed vaccine and they’ve managed to develop it very quickly,” he said.

“Like most vaccines it’s not going to work 100 per cent so that means people need to be careful with quarantine of horses.

“We’re probably very fortunate to not be in an at-risk area.”

Mr Litchfield said the vaccination can only be administered by a qualified veterinarian.

Shadow minister for Agriculture and Food Security John Cobb welcomed the move to conquer the deadly virus.

“It is a real testament to the CSIRO Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong that they could lead the development of a vaccine for a category four pathogen that no one else in the world has been able to achieve,” he said.